Shame on Monster.com

Take a look at pages 12 and 13 of the Sports section in today's New York Times. (I apologize for 2 NYT-related posts in a row, but let's be honest, Sundays are made for sitting around and reading the paper. Or watching football. Or going to church. Or whatever gets you through until Monday.)

There's a 2 page paid advertisement spread that exclaims:

"Retire 21. Speak to any baseball aficionado of a certain age, and he or she will immediately understand the meaning of the words, "Retire 21." The number 21 was worn by Roberto Clemente, the first Latino baseball player to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown."

The rest of the section, which is written like a news article piece, goes on to describe the influential life of Clemente on baseball and the Latino rights movement. It was very well written and inspiring. Here are a few excerpts:

- "They [Clemente and Jackie Robinson] are remembered as pioneers who broke down racial barriers and cultural stereotypes that has long been ingrained as the dark side of America's pastime."
- "Clemente's achievements speak for themselves. In his 18 seasons, he hit over .350 three times, led the major leagues in batting four times, and won 12 consecutive Gold Glove awards.
- "But perhaps his greatest achievement is paving the way for other great Latin ballplayers to follow in his footsteps and become highly paid superstars in major-league baseball."
- "Even when Clemente was a rookie, he was a leader."

Pretty good stuff. Inspirational. Moving. Damn right we should retire the number like Robinson's.

But then this piece takes a turn for the worst. After 12 paragraphs of tribute to Clemente, we come to this:

"Clemente also served as inspiration for Steve Pemberton, Monster.com's Chief Diversity Officer. " (What?!)

Futher down the page:

" "Underrepresented people don't want the rules to be changed, says Pemberton. "They just want an opportunity to play the game...At Monster, that's what we do everyday: provide access. Anyone can go to Monster.com, type in a keyword - whether it's 'truck driver' or 'finance' - and opportunities instantly appear. We offer access to the best jobs, at your fingertips, regardless of who you are or what you look like." "

Shame on Monster.com for that disgusting commercialism. I know they paid a lot of money to put that ad in the Times. However, nowhere in the graphics or headlines or anything did it mention this was a Monster.com sponsored ad until I got to that part. I had all these warm and fuzzy feelings about Roberto and then bam!, Pemberton ruins my buzz.

So yes, retire 21 - Roberto Clemente is a legend and deserves the recognition.

But Monster.com, maybe it's time you retired your ad campaign, as well. Do you think Robinson and Clemente could have just typed, 'Break baseball race barrier' in your search engine and contracts for the Dodgers and Pirates would have popped out? Their struggles and achievements should not be trivialized or exploited to boost your website traffic.

Some things are meant to remain sacred. So check out these Clemente clips to get your Clemente buzz back: